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What is aspasia famous for

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Aspasia

~ 450 BC
ASPASIA
Aspasia was born of a noble family in Miletus, a Greek city in Asia Minor. She was beautiful and very well educated, and eventually traveled to Athens, which had already achieved predominance among Ionian cities by the time of her birth. There, she became a hetaira, or companion of the foremost citizens of Athens. In this role, she was allowed to mingle with the wealthy and powerful, but was not permitted to marry. She became acquainted with Pericles however, and after he divorced his first wife, she lived openly with him and bore him a son. She was well known to most leading citizens of Athens during its golden age, including Socrates, Alcibiades, Plato, and many others. Her intelligence and influence with Pericles made her the object of both admiration and scorn. She was blamed by her enemies for unpopular events in foreign policy, from the Samian invasion of 440 B.C., to the Peloponnesian War, and was at one point formally charged with impiety and prostitution. After the death of Pericles in 429 B.C., her son was granted Atheni
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Introduction

“Unless you believe there are no better men or finer woman on Earth you will certainly crave for what you consider as the best. Meaning, you want to be the husband of the very best of wives, and that she be wants to marry the most exemplary man," said Aspasia of Miletus, a woman much reviled during her lifetime and jested at later, through comedy dramas written by ancient playwrights as a harlot who sold carnal pleasures to nobles.

Aspasia was neither a harlot nor a woman without virtues. She was of noble ancestry, highly educated and a great thinker. She was also one of the teachers of the great Socrates.  Aspasia was derogated by some ancient thinkers and writers because of her immense knowledge and wit, through which she could outshine any rhetorician or philosopher in a debate.

Her above quote is part of an encounter with a famous Socratic student, Xenophon and his wife. The couple attempted to humiliate Aspasia by asking her whether she would prefer her own ornaments or better ones of a wealthier neighbour. Aspasia replied she would p

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Aspasia

Title: Aspasia of Miletus
Location: Miletus, Ionia & Athens, Greece
Born: 470 BCE
Died: 410 BCE
Occupation: Courtesan, Rhetoritician, Philosopher & Instructor
Relationships:

  • Mother: Unknown
  • Father: Axiochus
  • Sibling(s): Unknown
  • Spouse/Lover(s): Pericles
  • Children: Pericles the Younger

Biography:

Aspasia of Miletus, the consort and later wife of Pericles, was a famous hetaera (“courtesan”) that became an incredibly influential figure within the Athenian intelligentsia (Vermeule III 1958, 52). She is renowned for her speeches and oratory skill and is accredited with the instruction of Pericles and a close affiliation with Socrates during his golden period (Vermeule III 1958, 52). She was a brilliantly educated woman and upon arrival in Athens from Miletus, she did much to spread her skills in familiarizing herself with the intelligentsia of Athens (Glenn 1994, 181). 

With her great talents in oration and speech writing, many attributed the oratory success of Pericles, the sophistic rhetor par excellence, to Aspasia's ability to sharpen his tongue (Dean

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